"We have a rule at our house, Not aloud to say Penn Central at the dinner table."
Yamaha, it might be a good idea to check the dictionary to make sure you are using the correct language in proper context. The correct word would be "allowed," not "aloud."
I'm sure the Penn Central fans would be happy to hear you say Penn Central aloud!
I find it humorous how many critical posts are made, condemning some train company or product, where the person making the post cannot even use basic correct grammar or form a proper sentence, or make their comment at least readable.
The Penn Central saga is a sad story indeed. But as I mentioned before, the success of Conrail has caused some historians to raise some questions about the demise of the PC.
Penn Central lobbied for rule changes and new legislation that were all denied. That is until the US Government was saddled with ownership and financial responsibility of the northeast railroads. Then all of a sudden, miraculously the very same rule changes and legislation the PC had requested, were quickly approved. And Conrail became a huge success story. Not without pain, but still a major comeback.
Likewise, the whole concept in this train hobby of "the dark side" is totally stupid. HO and N scales have product availability unmatched in O scale. Nor will it ever be matched in O scale because of the financial restrictions of the smaller market size.
HO and N scale offer models with accurate details pertaining to a specific road name, model types only owned by one railroad, scale fidelity, etc. Detail parts and decal availability - not because the companies hate O scale, but because they don't sell in sufficient quantities in O scale.
Given the amount of grumbling one can read here, comparing product selection between HO and N scales versus O scale, sounds to me like HO and N are indeed the "bright side" and NOT the "dark side."
There are advantages and disadvantages to every scale. That doesn't make one better than the other. HO will unlikely ever have a center rail running down the track. And O gauge / O scale will unlikely never have the product selection and overall accuracy that HO already has because of the market demographics.